This invention relates to photographic apparatus and more particularly, it concerns an improved camera body construction and novel tripod mounting arrangement for use primarily, though not exclusively, in camera bodies molded from synthetic resinous or plastic materials.
The use of molded, synthetic resinous materials in relatively low-cost camera bodies is well known in the photographic art. Such materials can be shaped with the degree of precision required to achieve necessary light-proof seals and possesses adequate rigidity and strength to assure the measure of structural integrity required for optical accuracy. Provision must be made in plastic camera bodies, however, for reinforcement at the points of concentrated stress, such as for example, the connection of the camera body with a tripod mount.
The conventional camera tripod or stand is provided with a threaded bolt or screw receivable by an internally threaded socket in the camera body in a manner such that the body is clamped against the pad on the tripod often with considerable force due to excessive tightening by inexperienced photographers. Although the stresses on the interengaging threads can be accommodated by forming the socket as a metal insert in the otherwise plastic body, distribution of stress to the primary structural portions of the plastic camera body is necessary to avoid failure of the plastic in the region of the metal insert.
The achievement of stress distribution from the region of the tripod mounting socket is a particular problem in plastic bodies of large format collapsible bellows-type cameras where interior body space must be maximized to accommodate such components as a shutter housing, lens, erecting linkage and the like behind a cover when the camera is collapsed for compactness during carrying or storage. Also in collapsible bellows cameras, the need for strength in the region of the tripod mounting socket is accentuated by the forward projection of components from the body when the camera is erected for use. In the erected camera, the center of weight is displaced forwardly of the camera and correspondingly of the tripod mounting socket therein to develop an eccentric load adding to the stress concentration at the socket when the erected camera is supported by a tripod or similar support.